OVER a year after the creation of Pampanga’s 3rd city, the best is yet to come to Mabalacat City which plays host to the ever growing Clark International Airport.
During the CSR activity of the Community Relations Department of Clark airport in Barangay Sapang Biabas, I had the chance to talk with Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales, the effervescent smile and good looks still visible. Morales told me that the city government will pursue development projects such as the multi-level public market that will be funded by the SM Group of business tycoon Henry Sy. “Ginagawa po natin ang lahat para mapabuti ang kalagayan ng ating mga nagtitinda sa public market at para na rin sa ating mamimili.”
Morales said the City Government and SM management had already been exploring avenues on the establishment of the new multi-level Mabalacat Public Market that will replace the old one along the MacArthur Highway. The first floor of the new Mabalacat Public Market will be devoted to the stall owners at the old public market.
A ‘Triple A’ slaughterhouse approved by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) will also rise in the city. The chief executive said that more infrastructure projects had been realized under the city government, notable among them are the community high schools and a community college where hundreds of students are able to get quality and affordable education.
Morales said Mabalacat City will become the “next Makati north of Manila”, foreseeing the development of areas in Barangays Tabun and Dolores into a ‘central business district.’ The Clark Freeport Zone can actually extend the Freeport zone to include the northern part of Mabalacat where a wide swath of land is available for development. The area had been ravaged by the dreaded lahar flows in the past but slowly reemerging from the destruction wrought by the eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991.
Mabalacat City is a part of the Clark aerotropolis, an airport-driven development that is seen to generate economic activities in other areas encompassing the Clark airport.
The city plays host to the Clark airport and the Clark Freeport Zone. The modern Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway also cuts through the heart of Mabalacat City linking it to the deep-sea port of Subic Freeport Zone. “We have the international airport at Clark and we have the deep-sea port of Subic. Both will play a big role in the development of Mabalacat City,” said Morales, the only politician in Pampanga who graduated in the prestigious Asian Institute of Management.
The long-hackneyed “city of peace, progress and prosperity” has come full circle. Mabalacat has gone a long way and more developments will come.